


Good Yeoman

by ParadoxR



Series: Unto the Breach, Dear Friends [6]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternative Canon, Gen, Military, Stargate SG-1 Virtual Season 9, Training, anti-Cam, anti-Mitchell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-04 19:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1790320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadoxR/pseuds/ParadoxR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stand-alone: Mitchell's "recruiting" year-long SG team trainees; Carter explains how he really got here.</p><p>Not a bash, but about as anti-Mitchell as this series will get.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Yeoman

Be copy now to men of grosser blood, and teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman...show us here the mettle of your pasture. _-Henry V_  


 

 

One of the fics in this series you won't want as a Mitchell fan. Though honestly, I find him at least this cock-sure in canon. aka, 'why Avalon makes no sense'. Edited from chapter 11 of what was "Unto the Breach".

* * *

_Murph’d make a great 1C in another 60 or so, and Spriggs was her fastest field engineer qualification ever. These kids…She sighed, finally rising from her chair. If Mitchell still wasn’t done, she definitely needed to check on Cooney._

Sam steps out of Cooney’s office and through the read-in room, sighing inwardly. The major could spot a patch chaser at 200 yards, and he was a heck of a marksman. Mitchell’s chair had finally released him though, and she couldn’t let Dan hold her ear any longer. Her reflection glances wearily back at her in the star map, but Mitchell hadn’t been in read-in and wasn’t in Hammon—Landry’s office.

 

“…yeah, yes, so I’m looking for someone to—” The voice in question drifts in from the hallway, colliding more forcefully than she’d expect with Malkovich’s front desk. The secretary shoots his current folder an eye-bulgingly aggravated look.

“ _Cam._ ”

Mitchell’s head pivots around from the SG trainees he’s with, breaking into a full smile. “Hi, Sam! I’ll be right with you.”

“I need to talk to you.” He voice stays even—she has no desire to disrespect him in front of junior officers—but this was not a debate.

“I was just looking for a trainee to backfill if—”

“Colonel. Mitchell.”

“—Heck of an opportunity.” He turns the last back to the trainees meaningfully.

“Mitchell _._ …Folks, would you excuse us?” They excuse themselves, egressing with a sense of urgency Sam wishs more of them displayed consistently.

She restarts quietly in the empty hallway. “Cam,” she sighs. “These guys, there’s a reason their uniforms are sterile. They’re light years ahead of your Carrier program.” she gestures towards the quickly-vanished trainees. Adair and Jessup were just shy of their 12, and hadn’t missed a beat in the problems the SGC had faced over that year.

“You know there are a lot of people excited about the transition, right?” She tries to add cheerfully. He nods as she directs him through the briefing room and back to read-in. Malkovich’s folder still looks chastised.

“It’s a great opportunity. But it’s also a change. No one here wants to feel like their toes are stepped on. These guys, everyone here—they’ve earned their place same as you. They have their own paths, and they wouldn’t still be here if they weren’t impressively onto them.” The attrition rate for pre-12ers had skyrocketed in recent years as more and more problems got sucked into the System Lord vacuum.

He nods, considering. “I get it. But I’m not sure what you’re upset about; I’m here to learn from you. I didn’t even want to pick my own team.”

“I’m not upset, Cam, it’s just that we need you to realize everyone here learns from everyone. It’s how we stay alive.”  _A light flashes, burning in the distance as she claws at the sodden soil._  “The experiences one person gets here, the lessons we all need from it—the greenest boot is a teacher. You included, if you can synthesize what you’ve learned. Ask Jessup sometime about last summer.” She’d hadn’t been the only one, but it’s one of the best first impressions Sam’s ever gotten.

“…Ok…” But she can he senses there’s more to her vexation. _See Lou, he can read._ “Look, Sam, what’s your point?”

“I’m saying I’m really glad you’re alright,” she starts, “but we owe our lives to everyone in this building for sacrifices far more long-suffering than you it can yet imagine.” She pauses, noting on the shifting of his left foot.  _Press on, be diligent._ “You did a good thing in Antarctica. Selfless. We’re proud of you, and we’re grateful.”

“Thank you.” Sam’s head waves off the gratitude, offering him a chair.

“That’s potential—it’s enough to welcome you into a place where we live by that qualification.” Live or die by it.

“You’re among the first career pilots to trial-by-fire for us, and it was a relief to see that all of you might understand the way things work here. I’m sorry you’re flying solo currently, but I appreciate your eagerness.” She looks at him genuinely.

Mitchell’s right-side jaw is clenched, closing his eye slightly without really affecting his professional posture. “You had other candidates?”

Sam nods. “A dozen full birds and a few one stars. This is a heck of transition, Cam, but it’s a risky program.” She feels herself slip into full briefing mode, relieved. “The Beltway wants this whole thing over, and Carriers are not a cheap part of our budget. It’s not an attractive post for most people going somewhere”  _–err, that came out wrong..–_  “but I need someone who can really make the program work. …So. Why don’t I take over your tour?” _This is where you are now, Mitchell._ Living forever in the most dangerous moment of his life to date.

They walk by the klaxon switch at the star map.  _Code 9! He’s crashing! What is that? ...It’s been an honor to serve with all of you. She’s dead, Sir._  _I know—n_ _othing's working._ _Colonel, Ma’am, they came out of nowhere! Ya sure you betcha, No, don’t shoot!_

He nods mutely as they walk. “I’m on Quarterdeck right now—backup for SG-47—but there should be some people in the bay.”

Cooney’s door latch slips out of its strike on their way out, and she makes a point to close the read-in door behind her. That door really is closed, she hopes to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Sterile: Sans identifying information; here, BDUs with name tapes and trainee patches but no rank, reinforcing ‘learn from everyone’.  
> System Lord Vacuum: The upset bipolarity is far more devastating than the show wants to cover. Bandits, upstarts (Seth), con artists (Vala), spies, terrorists... Just monitoring is a huge SGC task.  
> Code 9: Hammond quote when Jack's beamed out. The rest are generic, but the SGC is a hard place: e.g. Metamorphosis, Sight Unseen, Matter of Time, Entity, Message in a Bottle, non-canon, Nemesis (quote), Enemy Within...  
> Bay: Open-bay barracks; here, where the Quarterdeck teams can kick back (boots on).


End file.
